Category Archives: News

Best Quote of the Week – December 6, 2019

“Religious freedom is a fundamental American value, but it’s not a license to discriminate. Elected officials shouldn’t be allowed to use their religious beliefs as an excuse to pick and choose which taxpayers they would serve.  If a government official can’t treat everyone equally under the law, then it’s time for them to find another line of work.”

– Dan Quinn, spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network, on the public warning Texas’ State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued to Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley for violating ethical standards by failing to treat LGBTQ people fairly in her courtroom.

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Worst Quote of the Week – November 30, 2019

“Take photo, film, send it to an NGO (non-government organization), the NGO spreads it out, does a campaign against Brazil, gets in touch with Leonardo DiCaprio and Leonardo DiCaprio donates $500,000 to this NGO. One part went to the people who were setting the fire, right?”

– Brazilian President Jair Bolsarano, blaming environmentalists and U.S. actor Leonardo DiCaprio for the recent rash of wildfires that scorched the Amazon.

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Best Quote of the Week – November 30, 2019

“This was a shocking and unprecedented intervention in a low-level review.  It was also a reminder that the president has very little understanding of what it means to be in the military, to fight ethically or to be governed by a uniform set of rules and practices.”

– Richard Spencer, former Secretary of the U.S. Navy, regarding President Donald Trump’s decision to intervene in a case involving a Navy SEAL accused of a war crime.

The case involves Navy Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher who posed with the corpse of a dead teenaged Islamic State extremist in Iraq.  “His values are not those of our military,” Spencer added.

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Worst Quote of the Week – November 22, 2019

“Right now I want you to click on that button, and I want you to honor God with his first fruits offering.  If God doesn’t divinely step in and intervene, I don’t know what you’re going to face – he does.”

– Paula White, Donald Trump’s “personal pastor”, in an email asking followers to send her a donation of USD 229, they will get “prophetic instruction” on how to attain victory over their “enemies.”

White claims the $229 fee is “in accordance with 1 Chronicles 22:9, and that it is “a specific seed” because “numbers are important to God.”  Those who can’t manage the $229 for prophetic visions are encouraged to send $31 – the sum of 22 and 9.  Now, isn’t that clever?  But she insists the full $229 is needed to “break any chains.”

To the religiously curious, 1 Chronicles 22:9 reads: “But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side.  His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign.”

I don’t see anything in there about giving money to a man who inspired “The Joker” character and his gal-pal who’s in desperate need of a dye job.

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Best Quote of the Week – November 22, 2019

“I confess that when I hear some speeches by someone responsible for public order or a government, I am reminded of Hitler’s speeches in 1934 and 1936.  They are typical actions of Nazism which with its persecutions of Jews, gypsies, people of homosexual orientation, represent a negative model ‘par excellence’ of a throwaway culture and a culture of hate.  That’s what they did then and today these things are resurfacing.

– Pope Francis, expressing concern about modern language he’s heard targeting Jews and the LGBTQ community.

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Worst Quote of the Week – November 15, 2019

“Get a rope.”

– Sid Miller, Texas Agriculture Commissioner, responding to the refusal by organizers of a Veterans Day parade in his hometown of Stephenville, Texas, to allow a Confederate group to participate.

Miller was upset the group wasn’t granted requested permission to march in the parade and later said he borrowed the comment from a 1992 Pace Picante sauce commercial. People were equally – and justifiably – upset Miller didn’t seem to graph the legacy of lynching in the U.S. and how the comment, ‘get a rope’, is linked to it.

Then again, Miller is a right-wing Republican conservative; so while people are upset with him, they shouldn’t be surprised. And, while I’ll never apologize for my Texas heritage, I’m always embarrassed that the majority of voters in this state continually put these Civil War relics into office.

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Best Quote of the Week – November 15, 2019

“I do not believe the United States should ask other countries to engage in selective, politically associated investigations or prosecutions against opponents of those in power, because such selective actions undermine the rule of law regardless of the country.”

– William Taylor, top U.S. diplomat to the Ukraine, testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, November 13, as part of initial impeachment hearings against Faux-President Donald Trump

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Worst Quote of the Week – November 8, 2019

“Just read the Transcript.  The Justice Department already ruled that the call was good.  We don’t have freedom of the press!”

– Faux-President Donald Trump, regarding his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the source of his current impeachment inquiry.

Here’s a much-needed refresher for Trump and other right-wing extremists.  The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees:

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Best Quote of the Week – November 8, 2019

“You don’t believe in climate change.  You are excused from this conversation.”

 – California Governor Gavin Newsome, in response to Donald Trump’s criticism of the state’s wildfire management

Yes, indeed, such matters as climate change and disaster response are intended only for adults – or at least adult-minded individuals – to discuss.

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In Memoriam: Ernest J. Gaines, 1933-2019

“Sometimes you got to hurt something to help something.  Sometimes you have to plow under one thing in order for something else to grow.”

– Ernest J. Gaines

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